Butter or margarine, which is better for your health?

Butter or margarine, which is better for your health?

On the one hand, butter is France’s favorite source of fat. On the other hand, margarine, like butter, is a vegetable-based fat.

It’s hard to know which one to choose! Let’s find out together!

Butter, rich in fat

Butter is very rich in saturated fatty acids. There are 60g of saturated fats in 100g of butter! However, these fats are essential to the proper functioning of our bodies.

Nevertheless, butter, when consumed in excess and combined with bad habits such as a diet rich in carbohydrates or an unbalanced intake of fat, could increase cardiovascular risk!

Butter promotes cholesterol, especially bad cholesterol. The saturated fatty acids found in butter raise the level of LDL cholesterol, known as « bad cholesterol ». While LDL cholesterol isn’t really bad in itself, it oxidizes more easily than HDL cholesterol.

However, rather than trying to reduce your cholesterol levels, you should prevent oxidation by consuming antioxidants and avoiding factors that contribute to oxidation such as alcohol, tobacco, stress…

Margarine, the vegetable alternative to butter

 » Unlike butter, which is made from animal fats, margarines are emulsions made from vegetable fats, » explains Yuka.

Although margarine is sold by manufacturers as a healthier alternative, it’s not necessarily better than butter!

Margarine contains phytosterol, which helps reduce cholesterol. However, lowering cholesterol is not necessarily a good solution!

By hindering the absorption of cholesterol, phytosterols also hinder the absorption of certain vitamins (A, D, E, K). Margarine does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease: replacing butter with margarine is therefore pointless!

In conclusion, prefer butter, which is less processed than margarines!